Breaking Hearts
by queenchesh
Summary: –-With the amount of time we roam this world, we know that nothing can be eternal. Billy/Valentine
1. Curse of 100 Years

**100 years to Live**

* * *

><p>Imagine. . .<p>

You have a hundred years to live.

It's a small phenomenon of life when a human lives to that age.

But for him it'll be as natural as breathing.

He knew the rules:

You will age.

You will see things.

You will hear things.

You will be things.

You will risk.

You will feel things.

Things you never thought of.

And you'll _feel. _

Happiness.

Silliness.

Sorrow.

Utter grief.

Because you know your limit.

You know what's coming when it does.

You'll outlive everyone you know.

But. . .

A hundred years.

A hundred years to live.

You've got a hundred years to love.

And a hundred years to hate.

This was how Billy Madison spent those years.

* * *

><p><strong>Yes, yes, yes. I am a terrible terrible person for never letting these two just be happy. . .Deal with it, you know you love me.<strong>

**Anyway, listen to the song '100 Years' by Five for Fighting and understand the story.**

**I know what some of you are thinking: Bree. . .where the hell have you been? Why aren't you updating Curiousity or Sota: Emancipation?  
><strong>

**Answer: I've been in Florida, crazy roads there. Kissimmee to be exact, lovley place, I liked it a lot. And. . .  
>Here lies Miss Prudence Plock<br>She dies, tis said  
>From writer's block<strong>

**Give'm my time. . .and a cold can a Coke I'll jump right on it.**

**Next chapter up when I finish it! Ha-ha!**

**-QueenVamp**


	2. Fifteen: Kiss Me

**Fifteen: Kiss Me**

* * *

><p><em>"<em>_Lead me out onto the moonlit floor_  
><em>Lift up your open hand<em>  
><em>Strike up the band<em>  
><em>And make the firelight dance<em>  
><em>Until the moon's sparkling<em>  
><em>So kiss me. . ."<em>

-by New Found Glory

* * *

><p>Billy Madison hated the dark.<p>

He hated not seeing where he was going, he hated tripping, not being able to see his hands in front of his face or the monsters that lingered in the dark. He hated the cool breeze of the wind when it blew through him and filtered in through his open jacket and made his teeth chatter. He hated his forstbitten pink cheeks and the stupid jacket he, for some reason, couldn't get rid of. But what he hated, he didn't mind when _he _was around.

When Valentine giggled from a distance in the dark and Billy found him with his hands, he was like a mythical creature he'd found. The cool breeze against the sweat of his neck was nothing, ruled out by the pleasure that he felt. His cheeks were pink. He'd done away with his jacket.

But from the love of Valentine, a creature who by nature made the darkness his home.

And invited Billy to join him.

He waited a few minutes in the dark of building for Valentine to show. Just another secret meeting and another run down place.

He was mentally calculating how so grounded he would be if his mother decided to check on her baby boy only to find an empty sheet curled bed and a wide open window –the very thought was endearing to his teenage mind– and she'd be a nervous wreck until he returned. That would force her to snap. After he'd come out to her about dating Valentine, and liking guys in general, she'd. . .tried to send him to several Bible camps for troubled teens and things hadn't been much better on her opinions of Valentine. She chose to fully ignore Billy's come out and just label Valentine off as a 'bad child' and forbid Billy from seeing him.

Forcing he –the once 'good child'– to go behind his parent's backs.

He had picked up his sister's rebel streak where'd she left off: disapproving of the boyfriends. . .Raven. She'd turned out okay, right? Albeit she was goth and never phones home after breaching European borders, but texted him whenever humanly possible. The parental unit then switched a vice grip onto Billy that he'd been withering and fighting off since it was instated.

_Creak._

wind and the floorboards bent.

Gloved hands came over his eyes. "Boo, guess who?"

". . .Luna?"

"No."

"Scarlet?"

"_No._"

". . .Stormy, my love?"

"_No_! Idiot." Valentine yanked Billy around to face him, holding the lapels of the boy's polyester jacket in his leather clad fists. Billy smiled.

A silver glow of the moon shined down on Valentine's prims of snow white hair, making it shine almost silver. Like a crown. Billy kissed the top of his head and pulled the shorter boy closer.

"I was only jokin', Valen."

The vampire boy's dangerous eyes narrowed. "Well. . .did you're love Stormy ever kiss you like this?" Valentine leaned up onto his tiptoes to touch his lips to Billy's. Tenderly. Warmth spread through the boy's and then lapsed into their own perfect world.

In this dusty old warehouse on sacred ground, they were infinite.

Where his mother didn't exist.

Where his sister was still here.

Where they weren't have to hide.

Only the dark.

* * *

><p><strong>Hope you enjoyed the fluff because its all down hill from. . .here.<strong>

**P****retty much, this is a side story to what could have happened if Billy's mother didn't like the fact that Billy and Valentine are a dating couple. I know she's said to be all hippy and a very accepting mother, but she has a few moments with Raven and disapproving of her actions. I'm just amping that up to twenty here and watching Billy's life burn.**

**You will see his life burn.**

**-QueenVamp**


	3. TwentyTwo: Slow GoodBye

**Twenty two: Slow Good-bye**

* * *

><p><em>"I can read the lines on your face<br>And their telling me,  
>Everything I already know, yeah<br>I hold you inmy arms  
>But your light-years away from me<br>Slowly sinking under alone. . ."_

-by Lesley Roy

* * *

><p>It was the graduation after party.<p>

Billy shook out among the many drunken college students that were currently getting trashed and appraising each other of the completion of the four rings of hell they'd been through. Most were going off to bigger colleges now, some still had no idea. Billy, however, was more on an inbetweener. He knew, but didn't. . .First he wanted to be a teacher, then he wanted to be a scientist, now he was leaning more towards genetics. . .

The lone young adult looks around, eyes seeking out his escort for the night. His boyfriend Valentine which he'd lost two minutes ago once he'd seen beer pong.

_There he is. . ._Billy's eyes found him immediately. There was a girl dancing on a table with a lampshade on her head, Valentine was dancing beside her, slamming on a guitar that wasn't his. He didn't even go to this school.

Valentine had deceivingly chosen to skip the college experience all together, but had made an acceptation for all the parties and free alcohol that was going around like a rapidly spreading disease. They'd missed the beginning of the year party, then the second one and by the third Valentine had physically dragged his beloved human down the stairs of his dorm and into the courtyard with the other students.

At the request of some senior girls, Valentine had chugged half a beer then conjoined his lips with Billy's via 'sharing' his drink. In retrospect, the light weight had thrown a spazz attack then took another drink. Billy had woken up the next day with a mother of a headache and a half-naked Valentine in bed with him.

Billy chewed his lips together, setting down his drink; he held out his arms and caught the free-flying vampire boy who kissed his temple softly. "I love you, William!" He declared openly.

Billy nodded, solemnly. Valentine cocked an eyebrow, suddenly sobered by that look alone. He whispered something along the lines of "come with me" and ushered Billy to a quieter part of the house. The second floor patio.

The music had become a dull roar behind the thick glass door Valentine clicked shut.

Billy refused to look at his boyfriend until he felt arms encircle his waist and Valentine's body pressing against his back. His chin touching Billy's shoulder.

"What's the matter, William? You've been distant since the ceremony." He murmured, genuinely worried about him. Billy had always loved that about Valentine. He always had the best interest of everyone in heart.

Okay, Billy mostly, but still. Everyone.

"Is it medical school? I swear the partying is toned down there. Classic etiquette, settle down sort of parties. Kissing in the coat closet parties."

"Valentine. . ." Billy turned in his boyfriend's hold, hands resting on his shoulders only to shove him back a little. The platinum blonde's eyes widened, listening intently. "You, we've got to break up."

The vampire looked like he'd been slapped in the face.

"Wha–_What_?" Valentine sputtered, tumbles of words fell from his lips, not all in English. Not all you can really say without offending someone. His voice rose in volume. Questions curled tightly at Billy's throat. Anger spewed from Valentine's mouth.

But what killed them both: the obvious tears threatening to fall.

"We're too serious . . . I don't . . . I'm not gay, Valentine. It was just a stupid game you started. It's not fun anymore, I don't feel anything."

Those tears evaporated by the cool heat of Valentine's anger.

Valentine reached up and touched a strand of Billy's hair, brushing it off his forehead. His hands dived into his hair and pulled him down. The kiss was longing and soft, their lips moved together and Valentine pushed up sliding his tongue across the other boy's teeth.

Valentine's eyes opened to stare back at Billy.

The tingly feeling of his lips shuttered down his spine.

"Nothing?"

"Nah –nothing." Billy flushed.

A sinister, sickly cold look fixed on his face.

Billy would be seeing it a lot very soon.

"You're such a fuckin' liar."

He didn't see him for a while after that . . .

* * *

><p><strong>Ngh, hated this one. Love the next one.<strong>

**I never really broke up with anybody. . .I just refuse dates. . .or accept, find out said guy is perv, and dump his ass out on the curb.**

**Billy and Valen~!**

**~QueenVamp**


	4. TwentyThree: Poison

**Twenty-three: Poison**

* * *

><p><em>"I wanna love you, but I better not touch<br>I wanna hold you, but my senses tell me to stop  
>I wanna kiss you, but I want it too much<br>I wanna taste you, but your lips are venomous poison  
>You're poison runnin' through my veins<br>You're poison, I don't wanna break these chains."_

–by Alice Cooper

* * *

><p>Valentine appeared on the day he was named after on Billy's apartment doorstep. The past year hadn't changed him in the slightest, albeit he appeared to be thinner beneath his gothic garb and heavy eyeliner played no part in the shadows beneath his tireless monster green eyes. A small, thin lipped smile curled at his lips whence he opened the door. Valentine's usual shine seemed to return to him under the lone torch outside his apartment, skin so white it made him glow.<p>

"Hello William." He greeted with a friendly smile and wave.

Billy's eyes widened and before he realized it Valentine had his hands braced against the door, teeth gridded angrily. Billy pressed on to the other side of the door, fighting against the vampire's strength before finally.

_Click._

Valentine slammed his fist against the door in retrospect. "Don't be so childish! I just want to talk!"

Valentine's banter continued and Billy could just stare at his apartment door, taking slow deliberate steps back in hopes of calm his galloping heart and his blood pounding in his ears.

_What the hell? _What had it been? How long? A year?

What was Valentine doing showing up at his apartment?

After a_ year_ of lingering in the shadows out of his life.

"William! I want to speak with you!"

And on _Valentine's Day? _Did he hit his head on something or was he always just this irrevocably _insane_?

He heard a click and the door swung open, nearly missing his nose.

Valentine stood in the archway with a silver key in his hand.

_I really should hide that spare key somewhere else. _He hadn't really thought to do so since the big break up –even though his mother had suggested it multiple times– some little part of him was hoping to come home late and find Valentine sitting on his couch wanting to talk. Over the last twelve months that hope had long since died out, in fact, he'd come to dread it.

"I see you're hospitality has changed."

"Where have you been?" It was the first thing that came out of his mouth, he couldn't help but ask. After Valentine had left him at the party he'd gone completely AWOL, all his stuff was gone, his phone out of range, his siblings. . .well, Billy had been too scared to approach Jagger or Luna, but was sure they wouldn't have told him anything even if he'd begged.

Valentine glowered at him like he was being a nuisance and tossed the extra key back into the potted plant where Billy was sure Valentine wouldn't expect it to be next time.

_Next time . . .? _The thought made him shiver.

"Romania, visiting some family." Valentine said, slowly shutting the door and toying with the chain lock, obviously taking pleasure in the little gulp Billy made. "It's amazing how family can comfort you in your time of need."

Billy diverted his gaze and bit the inside of his cheek.

This was so awkward.

"Do you want to sit down?"

Valentine nodded and the two walked into the small living of Billy's humble little apartment, just to the right of the door. After being away for so long Billy didn't think Valentine would look so shocked about the subtle changes he'd made to the apartment, but the glaring little details snagged Valentine's acute sight immediately. More particularly the more _feminine _changes.

A pair of heels near the foot of the burgundy smoke room couch and a stack of glossy magazines on the coffee table next to Billy's usual mug of chocolate mocha. If he'd explore the rest of the house he'd find another toothbrush beside Billy's in the bathroom among the mass of make-up and hair supplies, more clothes in the already cramped closet and some Weight Watcher's cookies in the cabinet.

But Valentine's eyes settled on the picture by the TV that seemed to stand out glaringly against everything else.

It was of a portrait of a young woman; an all Miami girl tan, blonde hair and smiles.

Billy watched as Valentine picked up the frame delicately like a jeweler does a priceless diamond. His fingers brushed the surface of the stainless glass, seeming to rub his fingers together in search of dust, but found the photo had been _well _attended to. He didn't turn back to Billy.

"Tell me about her. . ."

It was a blatant order. Billy felt a chill curl up his spine.

"H-her name is Valerie. She wants to be an art teacher."

". . ." Valentine still didn't look at him. Billy had to add more salt to the injury.

He had to get him to leave before. . .he did something stupid.

"We met a while after we broke up. She came into my life with light and pulled me out of my rut. She took me dancing –I was horrible. We went to Florida together, she met my family. Raven loves her. She has no siblings, her parents are dead. We. . .we're getting married."

The frame slammed down, the glass cracking. Billy cried out, but Valentine wheeled up to him angrily.

Monster green eyes flashing crimson red in their wake.

Billy went tumbling back falling into the soft cushion of the sofa, but the vampire above him grabbed onto the arm of the couch and the pillow beside his shoulder –boxing him in, nowhere to go.

"So. . .she's like me, then?"

"What?"

"She sounds like me, except. . ."

"Valent–"

"'She has no siblings, her parents are dead'? Is that what this is about? !" He shouted, feral hiss curling to his voice. Billy pushed himself deeper into the couch, cringing at every word. "I don't understand! Luna adored you! Jagger thought you were cool. My parents thought you're the best thing that's ever happened to me! And you know I'd never see them ever again if you wanted nothing to do with them!"

Billy felt a dagger stab at his heart.

"I could never ask you to do that!"

"And what about this 'rut' after we broke up? Huh? You were sad? You seemed pretty heartless at the party that night!"

"I–!"

"I _always _got you out of ruts! I was there for _everything_!"

"Valentine. Valerie's–"

"Valentine. Valerie. Valentine. Valerie. _. _Our names even sound the _same_!" Valentine threw his hands into the air as if he could command lightening to come down and fry him to a crisp, but instead his fingers locked into the soft white tendrils of his hair. Pulling it like a child who wasn't getting what his wanted. A childish gesture, but Valentine's look was murderous doing it. His eyes flamed. "Why are you doing this? !"

"Wha–?"

"You picked someone like me! Why can't _you _love _me_? !"

Another dagger, Billy had to get him out.

"Because I don't love you!"

Valentine stared, eyes narrowing and a growl issued lowly from the back of his throat. "That's the biggest load of bullshit I ever heard."

Grabbing a fistful of his hair Valentine crashed Billy's lips onto his roughly, his snake-bites digging into his chin and pushing indents forth into his skin. Billy fought against Valentine's lips; trying to pull away from them because to him his lips were slow killing poison, his own kryptonite.

Billy screamed against his mouth, but Valentine gripped onto him, fingers curling into his shirt and tongue slipping over his lip.

Noises spilled from Billy mouth, strangled. He wanted to submit to Valentine's kiss, but. . .as good as it felt to see him, touch him again. He couldn't. Not anymore. He was over him!

Valentine's lips twisted with his, his breath fanned across his face, his tongue danced with his, persisting slowly and softly to get a reaction from Billy, so irritably addictive and wonderful. He knew all the right codes to undo him completely.

Billy moaned.

_Why? _He could only wonder as Valentine's lips roved over his, sparking old flames that had not been lit in what felt like centuries. _Why do I love him? _Why did Valentine have to be a man? Why did Billy have to be so. . ._drawn _to him? Every turn, every gesture, every kiss and Billy felt like he was being burned from the inside out, melting. And he'd never be tired of it.

_Stop. _He tried to say, but Valentine rediscovered the soft spot behind his neck.

Valentine gasped when Billy kissed back, roughly, grabbing onto the boy –no, the boy had become a man before him– and pulled Valentine down onto the couch like they'd done many nights before this.

Valentine arched and moved with his every touch and only added fuel to Billy's guilty fire. But he couldn't stop. He didn't want too. Valentine was here and was surrounding him everywhere, holding on to him and caressing the sides of his face, slowing the kiss down to leisure passion. A sad and slow dance that voiced how much they missed each other.

"Valentine. . ." he whispered hotly and the vampire smile into the kiss and leant up further to draw his tongue over Billy's neck.

"Valentine. . ."

His hand touched the helm of Billy's shirt and worked a trail of kisses to his ear.

"She'll be home. . .in a minute. . ." he panted.

Venomous green silted eyes. "_Let her see._"

". . .I can't. I. . .can't hurt her."

Hurt flashed across Valentine's face and the dagger twisted deeper into Billy's gut.

Valentine still clutched onto him, burying his face into Billy's neck. "Choose me. I loved you longer; she can't love you like I can."

Billy felt the wetness of tears against his neck.

A month later a knock came to the door. It was a letter wishing the soon-to-be married couple luck. Valerie read over the letter twice, green eyes wide in panic.

"Ah! Billy who did you tell? I thought we were going to wait until after Alexander and Raven's wedding."

Billy took the letter, recognizing the Romanian phrases from the past little notes Valentine always left for him in his textbooks and desk and locker during his school days. He knew it so well he was fluent. Of course, Valentine was riding on the fact that Valerie couldn't read Romania or think to use Google Translate.

_I love you, my darling human._

The words caught in his throat, but he pushed it back down.

"Slip of the tongue, I guess."

* * *

><p><strong>Yes, slip of the tongue . . . down Valentine's throat.<strong>

**Nice save Billy. Valerie is the name of my car XD**

**Changed the name of the story, from "Chapters of a Hundred Years" to "Breaking Hearts"**

**Next Chapter: Raven and Alexander's wedding! Hating on Valerie! The _real _reason Billy broke up with Valentine!**


	5. Twenty-Five: Famous Last Words

**Twenty-five: Famous Last Words**

* * *

><p><em>"No, I know, that I can't make you stay<br>But where's your heart? But where's your heart? But where's your—  
>And I know, there's nothing I can say, to change that part, to change that part<br>to change . . ."_

__—"Famous Last Words" by My Chemical Romance

* * *

><p>Of course, Valarie couldn't come to a vampire wedding ceremony and neither were Raven and Alexander going to hold a separate party where neither could be themselves, and henceforth the wedding party had a limited guest list on the bride's part.<p>

He met Becky and Matt, newly engaged and happy, happy, happy at the airport terminal and flew to Romania with them for the wedding.

Valarie had been pissed and argued and smoozed Raven over speaker phone since Billy didn't trust her to talk with his sister alone.

_"You're making puppy eyes right now aren't you?" _Raven asked and if she were here Billy could imagine her arching a dark brow in question and while resting her hands on her hips. _"Good thing I can't see it."_

Valarie had even tried sneaking onto the plane too.

"She can't possibly hate me that much. Can she?"

Billy wasn't exactly sure why Valarie was seeking approval from Raven, up until now her undivided attention was towards his parents—his mother's dinner parties, his father's football scores—and Raven, his gothy sister, was to be sniffed at and Alexander was to be smiled towards. No more, no less.

"She told me something about your old ex being there . . ." Billy paused over his duffle bag and turned to find Valarie in the archway leading into their bedroom. She was sniffling. "I guess I just wanted to meet her . . ."

Her.

Billy had never told Valarie that the person he'd last dated over eight years was a man.

"Is she going to be there? Valentine?"

Billy's shoulders slumped. "H—she's the sister of one of Raven's ladies-in-waiting. Luna won't let Raven live it down if she's not there."

"But I can't go?"

He smiled gently and pulled her into a hug. "It's her wedding, I can't tell Raven anything.

* * *

><p>But he had told Raven everything.<p>

Raven knew the real reason he broke if off with Valentine and among others things, hated Valarie's guts.

Raven had met them all at the airport, leaping for joy and darting through the people in a pair of heeled boots that added two inches to her height. She launched herself into Becky's arms and the two girls began screaming about weddings and missing each other and ogling the black-dyed diamond with silver setting on Raven's finger.

Billy smiled at his sister's antics and then his gaze flickered to an exasperated looking Alexander with Jagger twirling a set of keys and a darker shape hung in the background.

"You dyed your hair?" It's a stupid thing to say to someone who, when you last saw them, you were kicking them out of your apartment after straddling them into the couch and kissing them breathless, but Valentine feigned a smile.

He looked much healthier than the last time he'd seen him.

A glowing parlor to his fair white skin and a sense of lively trickiness in his shining emerald eyes that reminded him of old times when they snuck out of his house together and danced around under the constellations in a cornfield.

But now Valentine's hair was darker, a strange near hueless black that reflected like a pool of gasoline.

"I needed a change."

His voice was different, lightly accented from the lack of speaking English.

Billy nodded because he understood.

Raven flung her arms around him next and Billy hoped this would be the only time he would talk to Valentine this weekend.

* * *

><p>He's sitting at the bar after the ceremony; the fatal bite that shifted his sister's mortality for immortality was something he himself once thought about for himself. He had once imagined him and Valentine getting older, allowing their bodies to age into a ripe stage where they could pass for mid-twentiesearly-thirties and then sharing in immortality together.

And he needed a drink.

He needed to bury those thoughts and keep his head, but loose his mind.

His phone was still buzzing in his pocket and he'd kept his hand on it the entire ceremony, silencing it before it could buzz and adding to another one of his father's erratic messages screaming about what Valarie had told him last night about Raven getting married.

It wasn't only him who had a falling out with his parents over the past few years..

Too irritated and angry, he dropped his phone into his scotch and watched the bright lights spark across the screen.

"Wow, rough night?" Valentine takes the seat beside him and Billy rolled his head into his hand. "Your father?"

Valentine knew the look on his face and smiled as gently as his angular face would allow.

"How'd you know?"

"I just know." Valentine shrugged and ordered him another drink.

Billy stared at him and everything in his mind is screaming for him to run away and forget about Valentine Maxwell and run back to Valarie Bennett.

"It was a beautiful ceremony, perfect night too." Valentine commented. "Did you see Luna and Claude? They've been inseparable since the rehearsal parties."

He had seen. Good for Luna. Hold onto this one, girl.

"And I'm sorry about your mother." Billy glanced up at that.

"You hated her." He retorted and Valentine shrugged.

"But she was _your _mother."

The way Valentine looked at him there, the way his eyes sparkled and his lips curled around the words let Billy know: Valentine still wasn't over him.

"I'm still with Valarie." He said and it echoed in his mind, while Valentine looked increasingly bored with the sound of her name.

"I know."

"And—?" Billy prompted.

"And—I still don't care."

"Why can't you just move on?"

"Easy for you to say, you're human." Valentine gave him the same intense green-eyed monster look. "I'm a vampire, we don't love like humans. . .for us it's forever."

"So you're going to pine after me forever?" Billy asked and there's an unkind chuckle in his voice. "I'm going to die eventually."

The glass in Valentine's hand shattered and few people in the bar turned to look at them now. "Like I'd _let_ that happen."

Valentine's hand seized his shoulder and hauled him off the barstool and then continued to drag him across the barroom floor and outside.

He stuffed them in the first coat closet he found and slammed the door behind them. Billy fell back against a wall of furs and then jumped right back into Valentine's unmoving body.

"What the hell are you doing? !" Billy cried and tried to go around him but it was futile.

"Shut the hell up and be still!" Valentine hissed, hand gripping the side of his neck. "I want answers damnit! I can't fuckin' choke this down anymore! Stop. Moving." Shuffling through his thoughts, pulling at the floor boards, shifting through math equations, slapping through thoughts of Valerie: digging up to that night at the college party.

"Valentine, no—!"

_His mother's face appeared as it always was, stern and had knitted brows. Aging more and more with the wear of The Face that deepened the lines etched into her skin. Billy sighed; even being valedictorian couldn't erase the shameless scorn that painted his mother's face. His father nodded to him, smiling, patted his shoulder and took a step back. Like he was diseased. Couldn't breathe the same air as him. _

_He took a breath, played with the tassel dangling from his cap and watched his sister prance back to the car with Alexander on her arm. They promised to meet them later at the restaurant before Billy left for the graduation party. Valentine fixed his tie, blissfully unaware of the stares he was getting from the other Madison's. Valentine's peridot eyes met his and smiled. "You look really handsome." _

_The very tips of Billy's ears tinted pink and chewed his lip. Valentine smirked_—_pleased that still after all these years he could still get the reaction_—_and leant up onto the tippy toes of his combat boots to kiss the corner of his boyfriend's mouth. "I'll see you later." He smiled smoothly, ruffling the boy's black hair and then sprinting after Raven and Alexander to the car. The sun was still just down, it was dark, but the ethereal twists and tangles of pink and orange lingered in the navy sky. _

_Valentine and Alexander's fragile skin could only take so much for their mortal loves. _

_"Son," Billy glanced up shyly at his parents. Though he'd grown in the past few years, becoming the same height of his father and taller than his mother, they seemed to tower over him whenever he slouched under their gazes; pushing him back into secrecy and loneliness. _

_"Yes, mom?"_

_His mother looked around and then nodded to herself, assuring that she wanted to have the conversation here and now. Billy felt it coming, and rallied up his usual arsenal of retorts, but the blow of her words still made his breathing skip and stutter. _

_"I've tolerated this _behavior _long enough, and now. . .It's time you stop acting like a child, you're going off to medical school in a few months."_

_"What?" It confused him._

_"This. . ._thing_ Valentine and you have together. It has to end. Now."_

_Billy flared. These conversations happened a lot throughout the years; he'd become better equip to defend himself from his mother's words. Armed with witty retort and his extensive vocabulary he suited up for what was to be his last battle. "What 'thing'? A _relationship_? Love? Yes, Sarah, I forgot because I'm in a relationship with another man you can't accept anything I do anymore."_

_Her face reddened and his father made a move to separate them. _

_"C'mon, Sarah, it's his graduation. Billy, don't talk to your mother like that."_

_They didn't even hear him._

_"You _will not _speak to _me _that way! I am your mother. _I _know what's best for you!"_

_"I don't even live with you anymore!" Billy growled. "I get good grades, I don't go drinking on the weekends, I help out with church affairs and I do, do whatever you say anyway. Let me choose who I want to date! Don't lie, because you don't even _tolerate _it. I came out to you because I didn't like lying and all you've done since then was make me wish I hadn't."_

_This is the part where he turned away, got the last word and continued on like nothing happened._

_This is the part where he went to Valentine for comfort and his boyfriend's overzealous PDA reminded him why he'd done this._

_This was the part the lead him to know he had become his own person._

_This was the part that had become routinely normal._

_This, if he had done it, would have changed what his mother would have said next, but instead he paused and relished the look of shock on her wrinkled face._

_She saw the determination of his face. . .and sought to break him down._

_"I never want to see you again!" Every word emphasized by her low, low angry voice. _

_She became taller. _

_"If this continues," She glanced back at the car that was driving away. "I will not invite you to any birthday parties or funerals. I will not wish you happy birthday, or tell you anything about the family. If there's a death, you're not invited. If I'm in the hospital, you are not allowed to come and see me. You are out of this family in every sense of the word. I will tell your grandmother and she will write you out of her will. I will throw away everything in your room. Your father and I will not pay for your tuition. If you're old enough to make your own decisions you can pay your own college bills then too!"_

_Billy stared._

_What he'd always feared._

_His knees felt weak._

_"I. . .what? No. . .you. . .dad?" He looked to his father who diverted his gaze. "Mom. . .?"_

_"Get out of my sight!"_

Valentine's large eyes stared at him. "This is. . .?"

Billy braced himself.

"This is why you broke up with me?"

"Yes. . ."

"I could've helped you! My family's loaded! Your tuition would have been _nothing _to them."

"What about when I got older. . ."

"What about it? I would have turned you if you asked!" Valentine's eyes were glassing. "I would have _aged _if you wanted to!"

"I. . .wanted to be a doctor. . ."

"You could have been a doctor!"

"Exactly, I'm not freakin' Carlisle Cullen."

"You still could have been a doctor! Underground or above ground! You could have studied how vampire bodies operated differently and you would have had fun being a little genetics nerd in your own little lab."

"Kids?"

"Adoption."

"I want them to be like me."

"So–! You're the genetic nerd! They have these things called _surrogate mothers_."

"It wouldn't have been the same!"

". . .forget you. . ." Valentine stood and walked away.

When the door slammed, Billy was alone and shaking and cold and he felt tears prickle in his eyes.

"I'm sorry . . ."

* * *

><p>When he got home from Romania, he got a call from the police. Someone had smashed his mother's headstone. The proud polished rock turned to bits of granite that had been splattered with red paint and bits of it merged with the gravel path around the garden in the Madison family backyard.<p>

His father was mute and horrified.

"Yes, yes . . . I know who did it. No, I don't want to press charges."

The weapon of assault (one paint-splattered bat), had already been found in his living room, surrounded by shards of glass having come sailing through the window.

* * *

><p><em>"A love that's so demanding, I can't speak<br>I am not afraid to keep on living, I am not afraid to walk this world alone  
>Honey, if you stay I'll keep forgiving, nothing you can say can stop me going home."<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Yes, that took a while and yes, I took that line from <strong>**_I Am Number Four _and it worked out beautifully. **

**And this makes me sad and there's still so much more.**

**And yes, I killed the bitch. Sorry, Mrs. Madison. But Valentine is not sorry about your headstone. It had an anagle on it, it was completely contradictory.**

**Will update soon and please review and tell me your with me,**

**~QueenVamp**


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